UA alumni Parissa Amini and Lisa Clinch welcome current UA student Alan Davis for a tour at the Channel 12 and AZ Republic building in Phoenix.

I am a firm believer of building communities to be able to generate a happier, more complete self. At a university setting, one of the best ways of doing so, and also a great way for future planning, is reaching out to alumni and fostering relationships between current students, faculty, staff with alumni everywhere.

In journalism, for example, I have worked as a one-on-one coach for current and recently graduated students. For those students who have taken me on, and for the different student organizations I assisted with, I facilitated and organized meet-and-greets and site visits with alumni. With the students, we made trips to CNN Los Angeles where a University of Arizona graduate was a reporter; we hosted alumni to come and visit with students, including a National Geographic video producer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor, a White House Press photographer and many others.

Life is always going to be a giant puzzle for all of us. However, we can continue to build that puzzle by finding the right pieces that fit into our lives. For students and alumni, sometimes, it’s as simple as networking or mentoring that really helps boost career and life opportunities.